The Black Continent
by HyperShadow666
Summary: Currently trying to rewrite this. Better. I reread it and thought twas terrible.
1. Mysterious Dreams

The Black Continent Chapter 1: Mysterious Dreams  
  
"I'm Vyse of the Blue Rogues. And today, I'll be relieving you of all your valuables!" said Vyse as he landed on the deck of the Devourer.  
  
Two female air pirates dropped in next to Vyse, and one of them exclaimed: "VYSE!!! You left without me again!"  
  
Vyse winced as he heard this; he knew that when Aika was mad she could be more frightening than all of the Gigas put together.  
  
"Heh." said Vyse scratching his head "Sorry Aika. After we get the bounty on this guy, I'll buy you lunch to make up for it O.K.?"  
  
"Yafutoman?" asked Aika.  
  
"O.K. Yafutoman" Said Vyse.  
  
"Deal".  
  
"Uh, guys?" asked Fina "Shouldn't we be raiding instead of making plans for lunch?".  
  
"Right" said Vyse as he drew his dual cutlasses and watched the three Black Pirates draw their swords and advance.  
  
"Moons! Give us strength!" exclaimed Fina as she cast Incremus on Vyse, herself and Aika. Now strengthened, Vyse sliced through the first Black Pirate as if he was nothing but air. Meanwhile as Aika was in the process of freezing the second Black Pirate, Fina noticed that the third, smaller Black Pirate was trying to run and get backup, she cast slipara and within seconds the pirate was asleep. Vyse picked the smallest pirate by the scruff of his shirt and shook him awake.  
  
"Where is this ship's captain?!" Vyse growled.  
  
"Please! Don't hurt me!" he squealed as Vyse dropped him.  
  
"I'll tell you. You go through the doors behind you and up on to the third floor. You will find him there!".  
  
The three Blue Rogues ran through the doors and into an entire crew of armed Black Pirates.  
  
"Uh-oh." Said Aika  
  
"Heh. I like a challenge!" exclaimed Vyse.  
  
Despite Vyse thinking it would be a challenge it went by quite easily; all they had to do was cast Pyrulen - Instant fried pirate.  
  
"Huh. For a Black Pirate crew, they were pretty weak." said Aika disappointedly.  
  
"Yeah, you would think they'd be a challenge. Ah well, at least these guys seem to be loaded with stuff." Said Vyse looking into a box full of moonstones.  
  
"Strange thing is, these moonstones are black and I don't see how a ship like this can survive the dark rift.".  
  
Vyse stood up, walked to the stairs and said "Lets find the captain of this ship!".  
  
When the three Air Pirates got to the bridge all they found was a smashed window out onto the deck, a few chests full of expensive stuff and a small Hamachou with a note round it's neck.  
  
"Chirp?" said the Hamachou.  
  
"Don't tell me this Hamachou is the captain!" exclaimed Aika.  
  
"Er. No it isn't. Didn't you notice the note it's got?" said Vyse as he picked up the Hamachou which chirped happily away when he took the note off it.  
  
"To the Blue Rogues  
  
By the time you have read this I will have escaped. Feel free to help yourself to the treasure: I can always use my minions to find more.  
  
Good bye  
Lord Zivilyn Bane"  
  
Vyse smashed his hand down on the Devourer's controls "Dammit! I can't believe we lost him again!" shouted Vyse .  
  
"Calm down Vyse. I'm sure we can get him some other time. Right now we have to get this stuff back to Crescent Isle!" said Aika.  
  
"Hmm. I guess you're right. Lets get back home!" said Vyse. "Aye-Aye Cap'n" chorused Aika and Fina  
  
After the raid, Vyse and his crew had a celebration. They hadn't had a decent raid for a while now.  
  
"Hey Vyse when are you going to get my Yafutoma style food?!" Slurred Aika; she had drunken an entire bottle of New World Loqua and counting.  
  
"Oh yeah! I completely forgot! I'll have to get it for you tomorrow Aika."  
  
"WHAT?! I'M HUNGRY VYSE!!! AND IF I DON'T GET MY FOOD NOW SOMEONE IS GONNA HAVE AN URGENT APPOINTMENT WITH MY FIST DAMMIT!!!" Everyone went quiet. Vyse had also forgotten rule NO.1 Don't make Aika angry when she is drunk. Or hungry. Avoid at all costs if all of the above.  
  
Unfortunately for Vyse she was all of the above.  
  
"O-okay, just calm down Aika! I'll get it now!"  
  
Rule NO.2 when Aika is all of the above just back off slowly or play dead. Vyse learned this rule the hard way.  
  
"OW! What the hell did you do that for?!" Exclaimed Vyse holding his hand up to his eye.  
  
"Urgh." Murmured Aika who was now slumped of the table. The effort of punching Vyse was obviously too much for her.  
  
"Not again." Said Fina who was on the other side of the room and heard the sound of Aika's fist coming into contact with Vyse's eye.  
  
"Alright Vyse where did she hit you this time?" she said walking calmly across the room as if what had just happened was nothing  
  
"Right here!" Vyse said pointing to his eye "We really have to stop her doing this."  
  
"O.K.! Now just hold still Vyse." as she cast Sacrulen  
  
"Thanks Fina. Uh could you cast Slipara on Aika? I think she's had enough."  
  
"Sure!"  
  
"O.K. Thanks again Fina." Said Vyse as Fina walked out onto the lift outside.  
  
Vyse turned and faced the rest of the crew thinking 'I hope for Fina's sake she doesn't wake up.'  
  
Later Gordo (who was hired for the party) challenged Vyse to a Loqua drinking contest. Of course Vyse was no match for Gordo and he only managed to get through about six bottles full. Gordo on the other hand drank all of his own twenty-four bottle supply: he was dragged out when he was found wearing one of Fina's dresses, shouting "I AM CUPIL! I AM CUPIL YOUR RULER AND LORD!!!!' and then he tried to morph, which involved silver paint and himself getting nude and writhing about on the floor. need I say more?  
  
A few minutes later Vyse staggered to his room, put the light out and crashed down onto his bed "Ugh. Too. Much. Loqua!" and in a split second's time he was asleep. Strangely enough, instead of his usual dreams about Aika, he found himself in the Dark Rift. He seemed to be orbiting around the black moonstones.  
  
Vyse watched in awe as the moonstones gathered together and, with a large burst of black energy, reform into the legendary Black Moon. He stared as it suddenly shot up into outer sky (where the great silver shrine and other moons reside) destroying everything that crossed it's path - including Hamachou island. The Air Pirate noticed a small cloud of Hamachous carrying the hermit and themselves to the nearest safe island. Before Vyse could think anything about this the lower part of the rift tore open and shaft of black light appeared before him. 'Oh no, not again!' thought Vyse.  
  
Suddenly giant black arms appeared in the abyss below him and seemed to grab on to the edges of the outlying rift and pull the extremely large body of the dark abomination out of Deep Sky. As soon as it realized that Vyse was watching it, it emitted an ear splitting roar, picked him up and threw him into the air. It caught him in its mouth and started to bite down hard.  
  
Vyse awoke sharply, drenched in sweat and screamed - waking up Aika (Who had taken up residency in Enrique's room. The excuse was: "Well my room's kinda cramped and Enrique doesn't use it any more, so I can have it right Cap'n?".). There was a knock on the door, which slid open second later to reveal Aika.  
  
"You alright Cap'n?" she said softly so that she didn't wake anyone else up.  
  
"Uh. Yeah. I think so." whispered Vyse - still in shock from his 'dream'. Aika sounded concerned  
  
"Are you sure? You look kinda pale!".  
  
Vyse thought for a moment and the asked "Have you ever had a dream that seemed so real, you thought it might come true?".  
  
Aika looked puzzled "What?".  
  
"Ah. Forget it, it's nothing".  
  
"O.K. Cap'n!" said Aika brightly "You better get back to sleep. You don't look too good.".  
  
"O.K. Aika, thanks for coming to check up on me." Muttered Vyse now aware that he was wearing nothing except his blanket in front of Aika.  
  
"No problem." Said Aika as she slid his door shut.  
  
End of Chapter 1  
  
Hey thanks for reading the first chapter of my fic. This is my first so I understand if you think its crap. Please review this I wanna see what feedback it gets!  
  
Kuroi Tatsu or Tatsujin  
  
Next Chapter: Gilder's Arrival 


	2. Gilder's Arrival

The Black Continent Chapter 2: Gilder's Arrival  
  
The next morning Vyse awoke to the sound of some small birds that had nested in his ceiling. Feeling better than he did last night he immediately got dressed and decided to watch the island from the balcony of the meeting room where he saw a familiar red ship with wide black sails start to dock at the outside port.  
  
"Gilder!" said Vyse as he got the lift down as fast as he could and ran to the other side of the isle to meet him.  
  
"Hey Vyse. Long time, no see!" said Gilder as he jumped off his ship.  
  
"I was just about to say the same thing Gilder! What brings you here?" asked Vyse  
  
"Well I kinda got bored and went to the Sailor's Guild to look for stuff to do, and I found this information on a place known only as the Black Continent which was suspended under deep sky -like soltis- any way I was thinking who should I possibly take with me when you guys came to mind. That reminds me, where are Aika and Fina? You guys didn't have an argument or somethin did ya?".  
  
"Nah its OK. I think their still asleep. Want me to get them?" Vyse asked  
  
"Nah forget it. I'll wait til they wake themselves up" said Gilder  
  
"Hey Gilder, where did you say this Black Continent was?"  
  
"Heh... I didn't. The rumor said that it was somewhere near the dark rift!"  
  
Images suddenly seared through Vyse's mind of last night: The pillar of black light, the moon and most of all the huge monstrosity that had pulled itself out of the abyss of the dark rift. Vyse had gone completely white. He fell to his knees.  
  
"Ugh..."  
  
"Vyse, you OK?!"  
  
"Uhh... Yeah, I think so..."  
  
Gilder scratched his head and asked "Well if your sure your OK you might aswell come. The only problem is we need a better ship if we're gonna get inside the rift.... I was thinking that we could borrow the Delphinus from Enrique as that should be good enough to do all the stuff we wanna do!"  
  
Vyse paused to think about this and then said "Alright. Tomorrow we set sail for New Valua!".  
  
Vyse walked up the slope to Fina's room and knocked on her door softly and whispered "Fina you awake?"  
  
The door slid open and Fina was standing there half dressed with Cupil circling her head.  
  
"What is it Vyse?"  
  
"Uh... well I just came to tell you that we're setting off to Valua tomorrow. We need to borrow the Delphinus from Enrique. Do you want to come?"  
  
"Yes O.K.... I haven't seen him in a while. It would be great to see him again. Remind me later O.K."  
  
"Sure!" said Vyse as he left to go to Aika's room.  
  
"Aika?" Vyse whispered as he knocked on the door "Are you awake?"  
  
There was no response so he slid the door open a bit and saw that she wasn't there.  
  
"Huh... I wonder where she went...".  
  
Vyse decided to go to the conference room. There he could plan the trip to New Valua. When Vyse reached the top he found Aika watching the Island leaning over the railing like usual.  
  
"Hey, Aika. I guess you noticed Gilder's here."  
  
"Yeah I did." Said Aika "Listen Vyse... There's something I have to tell you..."  
  
Vyse scratched his head in thought and said "This isn't something I'm gonna regret, is it?"  
  
"I'm not sure..."  
  
"Hmm... carry on."  
  
"Vyse ever since that time... when you became the captain of your own armada... and you told me that you too were scared... I saw something in you that I never saw in you before..."  
  
"Wait a minute, your not going to tell me you think I'm gay are you?"  
  
"Huh? No I'm not I was going to say that ever since you told me that... I've been... in love with you..." said Aika softly as she turned away and looked down upon Crescent Isle.  
  
Vyse put his arm around her and gently kissed her on the cheek and at this Aika looked up at Vyse  
  
"What...?" She said softly. Vyse ran his hand through Aika's hair and whispered into her ear "Ever since I first saw you , Aika, I've been in love with you..."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah." Vyse sat down on the bench behind him and Aika joined him. She put her hand on Vyse's and took her braids out of her hair letting it fall out on to her shoulders.  
  
"Wow... you look great like that...". When they ran out of words, Aika suddenly leant over giving Vyse the most passionate kiss she had ever given anyone (Considering that the only time she had kissed anyone was when she kissed Vyse on the cheek last year)  
  
When the two air pirates finally parted they both said "Wow..." simultaneously. They then realized that the entire crew had been watching them through the conference room window (The crew was having a debate on who Vyse liked better, Aika or Fina. After this they finally agreed on something).  
  
"Way to go, Vyse!"  
  
Vyse turned around quickly to see Gilder standing there. He must have use the elevator while they were 'busy'. "Er... Um... We were... Uh... I was just..." said Vyse, who was trying to think of something to say that would get him out of this moment. "Heh... you don't need to 'explain' anything. Good choice Vyse. I didn't know you that good with the ladies!".  
  
"...."  
  
"Uh... Vyse? Can we... um... go somewhere? Alone?" asked Aika quietly "Sure" answered Vyse  
  
They got the lift down together...  
  
My second Chapter is up... Crap huh? Third soon just have to type it up 4th in progress  
  
Tatsujin 


	3. The First Attack

The Black Continent Chapter 3: The First Attack  
  
The next morning Vyse woke up in Aika's arms. She was still asleep so Vyse decided to stay there so that he didn't wake her up. As soon as he got comfortable, Gilder knocked on the door and said "Vyse, you up?"  
  
Vyse thought that he might as well get up sooner or later. "Yeah. Just let me get changed." "OK"  
  
Vyse got dressed quickly and silently so that he wouldn't wake Aika. He knew that she could be a nightmare if you woke her up. "What's up Gilder?"  
  
"Well, I was thinking that you may want to go to Nasrad at some point. The Delphinus needs a lot to run and you don't seem to have enough."  
  
"Hmm... I was gonna do that sometime soon anyway... Yeah, why not?"  
  
They started to walk towards the conference room lift and Gilder with a slight grin on his face asked "How was last night Vyse?"  
  
"Hm? It was nothing special."  
  
"What? Yesterday you were kissing her, today your insulting her?!"  
  
Vyse didn't realize what he meant  
  
"Huh?"  
  
Something in his mind finally clicked. He went crimson.  
  
"Gilder! All we did was talk and nothing else! NOTHING ELSE!!"  
  
"You know, you're not very good at hiding these things, are you? I saw Aika in there!"  
  
"Err... Uh.." uttered Vyse, who was desperately looking for a way out of this conversation. "Hey look! It's the Primrose!!" shouted Vyse as he randomly pointed at the sky  
  
"Crap! Where?!" Exclaimed Gilder, surveying the sky for Clara's ship. Vyse took this opportunity to run to Gonzales' grave. He fumbled for a secret lever hidden in plants nearby. When he found it, the grave slid sideways a fraction so that he could squeeze himself in. Vyse climbed down a concealed ladder and got to the bottom of the 'grave'. He hit a switch which lit some torches to reveal a large passageway. The tombstone closed above him. Vyse had requested Izmael secretly built this place after Ramirez launched his attack on them. It was a secret bunker that the crew would retreat to if any such events occurred again. He doubted he would have to use this for a while. Nobody knew about this place except for Vyse because it hadn't been used yet, with their biggest threat, the Valuan Armada gone. Vyse didn't like it too much down here; he decided it reminded him to much of Dangral island with it's dull metal corridors and sterile, dark rooms. He walked to the captain's office- the only room he liked in the whole place- and sat down at his desk. Vyse had decorated the room with his favorite things: his dad's flag, Aika, Fina's and his own flags, pictures of his old crew and friends, and on his desk: a large picture of Aika. This was where he liked to escape to when the stresses of being a captain got to him. 'Maybe I'll tell Aika about this place...' he thought as he drifted off to sleep.  
  
A few hours later Vyse awoke. He looked around for a moment wandering what he was meant to be doing. His eyes widened with remembrance. "Damn! I forgot! Nasrad!". He ran to the door and opened it to find Aika. "What the...!?" they both said in unison as her crashed into her. Vyse helped Aika off the floor. "Uh... hi Aika..."  
  
"Hey, Vyse!"  
  
"What? No attitude? Even after I knocked you over? You're losing it Aika."  
  
"Huh? Aw no... It's no problem. I'm in a good mood today."  
  
"Really? So how'd ya find me?"  
  
"Well, Gilder saw you run down here. He was pissed after you pulled that Clara trick on him, so he told me where you were. He figured this was supposed to be a secret."  
  
"Ah"  
  
Aika seemed to think about something for a moment "Hey Vyse, I just remembered we're supposed to be going to Nasrad today... Shouldn't we get going?"  
  
"Yeah, that's why I was running. We should set sail before the bazaar closes! Lets go!"  
  
Vyse ran to the ladder and then remembered that there would be a problem sailing if he didn't have his crew with him. He stopped and turned to face Aika "Hey Aika? Can you tell the crew that we're setting sail?" She smiled and said "Aye aye Cap'n" happy to be back on a mission.  
  
On the bridge of his ship, the Legend, Vyse shouted "Nasrad ahead! Decrease speed!" When they were halfway there the ship started to shake violently. Cupil started to panic, flying around Fina's head at a tremendous speed for a flying silver blob. Vyse called Domingo  
  
"What the hells going on?!"  
  
"I dunno! We seem to be under cannon fire but... I can't see where from... What the hell?!"  
  
Two jet black ships had materialized out of nowhere at either side of the Legend. Vyse shouted "All right! Battlestations everyone!" He ran towards the controls, grabbed the wheel and shouted "Right! Khazim! Fire all cannons at the ship on our left! Belle! You weaken the one on the right out with the Moonstone torpedoes! I'm gonna line up so I can get them both with the Advanced Harpoon Cannon!"  
  
"Aye aye Captain!" Both Belle and Khazim shouted in unison. The sky lit up with cannon fire as one of the ships went down. The other ship managed to evade the torpedoes by somehow warping fifty metres to the left. This maneuver seemed to take a lot of energy as the ship stopped to recharge. Vyse took advantage of this pause to get behind it. "Harpoon Cannon... FIRE!!" he shouted. The harpoon seemed to divide the air as it shot through the sky. The second ship just hung there in the sky for what seemed like an eternity until it slowly seemed to disintegrate before their eyes. "What the..." Vyse whispered as he stared at what was happening. He hadn't noticed Aika and Fina beside him. "What now captain?" asked Fina. "Lets just carry on to Nasrad..." said Vyse, still not quite sure what had happened.  
  
As soon as Vyse got to Nasrad he went straight to the Sailor's Guild and asked about the black ships that jumped him. "I'm sorry sir, but the only information I have about them is that they attack the people who take the 'Black Continent' job we posted up ages ago. We're thinking about taking that job down because the trouble it's been causing... It's like those black ships are trying to hide something..." Vyse thought about this "Yeah I got that impression. Ah well, I'm gonna go see if the supplies are loaded. See ya." Vyse left the Sailor's Guild and headed to the dock...  
  
Well there it is... My third chapter. I'm halfway through writing my fourth but, I still haven't thought up a title. Anyhow hopefully you'll think this is better than my last two chapters :D Tatsujin 


	4. Recurring Memories

The Black Continent Chapter 4: Recurring Memories  
  
Vyse got back to the legend and headed for the bridge, seeking Fina. He had got the idea that she may have some information on this black continent. When he got to the bridge only Aika was there.  
  
"Hey Aika, seen Fina anywhere?" he asked.  
  
"Well I saw her heading towards the item shop... Yeah, I think that's where she went. Why d'you need her?" said Aika, getting slightly suspicious  
  
"Well I wanna find out if she knows anything about those ships earlier." Vyse said quickly to avert any possible danger of getting hit by Aika.  
  
"Really? O.K. Mind if I come with you?" Aika asked Vyse shrugged "No problem."  
  
Vyse and Aika headed for the shop. Vyse noticed something strange happening when they passed the first fountain. He was getting the feeling that he got when he had that strange dream about the rift. He turned to Aika and saw that she had stopped.  
  
"Huh..." uttered Aika.  
  
The skies seemed to darken and Vyse quickened his pace. As he reached the door of the shop, it seemed like it night already. He hesitated and looked around and saw that everyone except Aika and himself was frozen as if time had stopped. Vyse turned to grab the handle of the door only to find that the shop had disappeared from view. He suddenly turned and found that he and Aika were just floating in midair. All that was left were the dark clouds above him, the swirling vortex that was deep sky and infinite horizons in all directions.  
  
"What the...?!" Vyse exclaimed  
  
"Where are we?" Aika whispered.  
  
Vyse was the first one to notice two strange figures shrouded in shadows slowly floating towards them. He slowly drew his dual cutlasses. It seemed to take years until the two figures reached them. Suddenly the shadows dispersed to reveal almost exact copies of Vyse and Aika with grey skin and clothes. Shadow Vyse's eyes glowed and he lunged at Vyse with amazing speed. Vyse managed to parry the attack and counter swiftly but Aika was not so lucky- she caught S-Aika's boomerang with her face.  
  
"AIKA!!" Vyse screamed as he matched his counter part's moves blow for blow.  
  
Aika saw red. She gritted her teeth and unleashed her Omega Psyclone on her enemies and flash fried everything within a five mile radius of her self- including Vyse. The two shadows retreated to a distance- the Vyse one seemed to be amused- and dissolved into thin air. Gradually Nasrad came swimming back to them. Vyse began to regain consciousness.  
  
"Ow... My head..."  
  
Vyse quickly got up realizing where he was.  
  
"Huh? Is it over?"  
  
Aika turned to Vyse "What the hell were they?!"  
  
"I dunno. More thing to ask Fina." Vyse said.  
  
He hung there for a moment and then collapsed to the floor in exhaustion.  
  
"Aika, you really should learn to control your attacks!"  
  
She laughed "You think so? Well if I did we would probably still be fighting now!"  
  
Vyse shrugged "Somehow I don't think that's the last we'll see of them..."  
  
"Maybe you're right" said Aika as they entered the shop.  
  
Later on the legend, Fina agreed to tell them all she knew of the black continent.  
  
"They were the only civilization that had more power than the silvites. We condemned them to deep sky when they started to show signs of revolt against us. We even shattered their main source of power, the black moon. Lately I have been sensing them again though... At first I just ignored it, thinking that it was just left over energy coming from the dark rift but I was wrong... Now after their attack on you I am sure that they have somehow regained power. We can only hope that they don't have the black moon crystal! The only reason you could beat Zelos is because Galcian didn't have the black crystal. If they did, Zelos' power would have been unimaginable. It would have been invincible..."  
  
Aika and Vyse both looked at each other and Vyse said "So it'll be like old times! It's just a case of getting the crystal before they do!"  
  
"But Vyse, we have no idea where the crystal is..." said Aika  
  
"Did we ever know where the other six where? This kinda thing never stopped us before and it won't stop us now!."  
  
Fina stood up and walked to Vyse's side "There is another problem though. From what the elders told me, I have found them to be very powerful. This will not be easy..."  
  
Vyse turned to her "Was anything ever easy? Tomorrow we set off for New Valua!"  
  
Vyse had another dream that night. He saw two shady figures, their features shrouded in darkness standing in a chamber much like the one in Soltis, except black. They seemed to be performing some kind of ritual. The thing that caught Vyse's eye was that there were seven black crystals floating over the central pedestal. Six of them were surrounding one in the middle, that was floating much higher than them, in a hexagonal formation. The six outer crystals projected dark beams of black light into the middle one, which then concentrated the beams and refracted them downwards. The strange one in the middle seemed to have trouble keeping one shape. Suddenly Vyse felt a chill run down his spine, one of the figures had spotted him. It's eyes glowed as it drew a familiar large sword that seemed to pierce the darkness revealing a face that Vyse could only see. He managed to get as far as  
  
"Ga...!!!"  
  
until he felt the sword pierce his flesh...  
  
Wow I'm writing quickly! So here's my 4th. Hope ya like it. 5th chapter half done just gotta finish and type it up. It's gonna be called Mirrored Worlds 


	5. Mirrored Worlds

The Black Continent Chapter 5: Mirrored Worlds

The next morning Vyse awoke from his troubled sleep, all he remembered was the crystals and a sharp pain, the rest all seemed a shadowy haze to him. He sat up sharply, and found Aika and Fina staring at him with expressions of shock and surprise on their faces.

'Vyse! You're OK?!'

They said in unison. Vyse was puzzled.

'Uh... Yeah, why wouldn't I be?'

The two girls stared at him.

'You don't know? You screamed a hell of a lot last night... You woke the entire island up! It sounded like you were in pain... We came in to check on you and... It was weird... You seemed to... fade in and out, disappearing and reappearing, and then all of a sudden you just went quiet and stopped fading. I thought I'd lost you! It scared the hell outta me!' exclaimed Aika. Tears were forming in her eyes.

'I don't know what that was, but I never want to see it again!' she said as she grabbed Vyse and held on to him as tight as she could.

Vyse thought for a moment, anything that scared Aika this much, or even at all, had to be serious. He decided to tell them of his dream.

'Huh… I remember having a strange dream last night… Or some of it anyway.'

He told them of the pedestal, the seven crystals, how they were arranged, the black light, everything he could remember. After careful thought he omitted the bit about the sharp pain, as it would only worry Aika and Fina more. Something told Vyse he had to carry on to Valua.

'Well I'm not sure what to think of this… Shouldn't we be leaving for Valua?'

Later they were nearing Valua. The electrical storms seemed to be getting out of control. Vyse shouted through the communication pipes.

'Everyone, the storms are getting pretty bad around here, so if you are outside please vacate the area to the inside!'

Suddenly the ship shook and the engines cut out. Warning alarms went off, crew members panicked, Belle started crying, and the ship started to lose altitude and plummeted towards Deep Sky.

'Vyse, what're we gonna do?!' shouted Aika over all the noise.

'I dunno! I dunno what the prob-'

Vyse gave into the pressure and blacked out.

Vyse woke up, feeling like he was going to have an aneurysm. He slowly got to his feet, his body wracked with pain.

He slowly turned around and found his ship embedded in a wall.

I must have been thrown from the bridge… he thought.

'Ouch… Where the hell is everyone? Where am I?'.

He appeared to be standing on what seemed to be a deserted island.

'What the…'

He worked his way through a dense network of trees and undergrowth to find some caves. He saw a flickering light inside and decided to investigate. As he neared the source of the light, he could hear hushed voices muttering something. He became wary of whatever was in this cave.

As he turned a corner he was suddenly jumped by two familiar figures.

'OW! What the..?!'

'HEY! HELP! I GOT IT PINNED DOWN HERE! SHOOT IT NOW!'

'What?! LET GO OF ME!'

Domingo had Vyse pinned down, and Gilder was just standing there, half laughing, half surprised. As soon as Vyse realized who it was, he kicked Domingo off and tried to stand up… and fell back over, exhausted, partially from the surprise 'attack', partially from his pain.

Gilder, seeing that something was wrong, helped Vyse up.

'Hmm… I think you need to see Ilchymis…'

Gilder and Domingo helped Vyse to where they had set up camp.

'So where exactly does it hurt?' inquired Ilchymis.

'Well… Everywhere…' said Vyse, distractedly as he looked around for Aika and Fina.

'Um… Any idea where Aika and Fina are?' he asked.

Ilchymis looked away, and carried on with the treatment.

'Uh… They kinda left to look for you…' he muttered in a quiet voice.

'Oh ok. How long have they been gone?'

'Two hours…'

Vyse stood up immediately.

'What?! We gotta go look for them! What if they got hurt? Or lost? Or both?!'

He ran into the area where the rest of the crew appeared to be, ignoring Ilchymis' protests.

'I need a lookout! Domingo! Can you climb trees?'

'Yeah. Why?'

'I'll need you to keep a lookout for Aika and Fina while I look for them!'

'Ok…'

'C'mon, lets go!'

Aika and Fina had landed in more or less the same place when they were thrown from the ship. Aika looked around.

'Where are we?' she thought aloud as she looked around.

The air pirate found herself under a dense canopy that blocked out the sky. In the distance she heard a familiar voice calling her and Fina's name.

'Vyse!' exclaimed the girl as she ran the general direction of the voice. The vegetation seemed to be getting thicker as she sprinted along, and suddenly without warning a leg shot out and tripped her up.

'What the?!' CRUNCH! Vyse stepped out from his hiding place.

'Heh… You OK Aika?' said Vyse as he helped her up.

'Vyse!! What the hell was that for?!'

Vyse scratched his head and grinned. 'Heh… Domingo saw you coming and… Well I couldn't resist…'

Fina walked over to him. 'Vyse, have you any idea where we are?'

He thought for a moment. 'Y'know this place kinda reminds me of Crescent Isle… Before it was our base…'

Suddenly Vyse's train of thought was cut off, as a large crash shook the island.

Vyse, Aika, Fina and Domingo ran to the source of the sound, to find out what had happened. A life boat seemed to have crashed on the isle. A girl of about seventeen was spread out on the floor. She appeared to be out cold. Vyse noticed that her clothes were similar to his, and that she too wielded dual cutlasses. Aika was the first to break the silence.

'Hey, Vyse, she looks like you… Wonder who she is…'

Vyse stood there for a moment thinking. 'I dunno… I think we should get her back to the caves. She looks pretty beat up…'

And so all four of them took her back to the caves.

**End of chapter 5.**

So, how was that? Sorry about the long delay, I got caught up in exams, coursework and computer games, and eventually forgot about this. I then lost the notebook which I wrote this in, so I couldn't find the 5th chapter…

Anyone got any ideas for the girl's name?


End file.
